Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Kickstarter Day 29: THE LAST DAY

Mere hours left to go on The Labyrinth of Flame Kickstarter! Last night the KS zoomed right past what I had assumed would be the final stretch goal. I was seriously so stunned (and delighted!) my brain was nothing but fireworks - I had to wait until this morning before I could settle on a final FINAL stretch goal. Haha, and this time I decided to go for one that's a little different than the others. (Thanks to faithful blog reader Steve MC, who last night sent me a joking suggestion that I decided to take in earnest! Because why not get a little silly on the last day?)

If you missed it on twitter yesterday, I've got a guest post over at A Dribble Of Ink talking about how my years in the Colorado Mountain Club and my love of the Sierra Nevada influenced the Shattered Sigil books.

On this final day of the Kickstarter, when I'm celebrating reaching a goal even higher than I dared to dream, I thought I'd share pics of the view from the highest real-world summit I've yet stood upon: 14,505-ft Mt. Whitney in my beloved eastern Sierra Nevada. I've shared pics before on this blog from a climb of Whitney, but at that time I hadn't scanned in my old pics of the incredible view from the top. I only wish I could show you what the stars look like from the summit! Most incredible stargazing I've ever had. But I can at least provide you the daytime view from a place that few get to visit:

Mt. Whitney (center of pic) as seen from the Owens Valley. This is the sort of view that inspired Ninavel, the Painted Valley, and the Whitefire Mountains! Whitney is the highest point in the contiguous US. (Lone Pine Peak, the pointy one at the left, looks higher because it's closer, but is actually only 12,944 ft.)

My husband and I on Mt. Whitney's summit, with Owens Valley and the White Mountains in the background

Looking southwest from Whitney's summit over the Sierra's peaks and plateaus

Looking straight down at the Owens Valley, 10,000 feet below to the east! The town of Lone Pine is the green blotch on the valley floor.

Looking straight west into the heart of the Sierra

Looking north along the Sierra's crest (smoke from a distant forest fire is hazing the air)

For my final book rec, I'm choosing a title from an author who's who's been hugely supportive of the Shattered Sigil series for years, tirelessly recommending my books to his readers and on online forums, over and over again. I can't even tell you how helpful that kind of sustained word of mouth is. But don't read Mark Lawrence's Prince of Foolsbecause he's been so supportive. Read it because Mark is an incredible writer. Dark and compelling and sharply witty - that last especially shines through in Prince of Fools. Mark's prior Broken Empire trilogy is too dark and brutal for some, but if you avoided Prince of Thorns because you weren't sure you could stomach a sociopathic main character, give Prince of Fools a try. Protagonist Jalan isn't half so vicious as Jorg, and he's far funnier in his dedicated cowardice that keeps getting mistaken for heroism. Plus, this is Mark's take on a buddy adventure, and Jalan's adventuring partner Snorri has all the heroism that Jalan lacks. (But Snorri isn't just a Viking badass; he's got more depth than that. He's my favorite character so far.) Book 2 of the Red Queen's War, The Liar's Key, is one of my most anticipated releases this year.

So there you have it. Only hours to go now - thank you so much for coming on this journey with me! Can't believe it's almost over! But I am so looking forward to sharing The Labyrinth of Flame with you.